On Friday (Feb 3), we took a day trip to a Tuscan hilltop town about 1 hour from Florence called Siena. It was gorgeous there, especially with the snowfall! If you ever visit Italy, I think it should definitely be included in your itinerary! The following is a summary of the day:
We woke up super early because we had to be at the SMN train station at 8:00am for our bus to Siena. It was so cold and I was not the most excited person to begin the day. The scenery on the way was beautiful though and that helped!
Though it was extremely cold, I really loved learning about the history of Siena and the Patron Saint Catherine. She convinced the Pope to come back from France and became famous in the Catholic Church. We saw her head and thumb as relics in the The Basilica of San Domenico, also known as Basilica Cateriniana. We then went to the Duomo of Siena, a beautiful cathedral! We continued to walk through the city until we arrived at the Town (City) Hall. This was a BEAUTIFUL building, my favorite building on the tour. It had an ancient fresco of the “Good Government” which was awesome for a political science nerd like me! After that, we had free time and went to a pizzeria for lunch, where I made the best food decision of the week by ordering a ham and pepperoni calzone. And yes, I ate the whole thing! Next, we spontaneously decided to sled in the snow at the main town square by the Town Hall. It was SO MUCH FUN and we got some awesome pictures! We even ran into (literally) some native Italians having family fun too! In my opinion, sledding was one of the coolest things we've done during our study abroad experience so far...who would have thought something so simple could bring that much joy? It really made me realize just how much I’m enjoying the company and my European journey.
Needless to say, when we got back to Florence, we all went straight home and took a very long nap!
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